Conflict On Orai
by DorkLonk
Summary: Sorry I haven't written something in a while, just haven't had time. A story about a planet called Orai. Both the Rebels and the Empire want it for it's natural resources but there lies a hidden darkness that might overcome both the Rebel and Empire.


**Planet Orai - Somewhere in the Outer Rim Territory - Rebel Controlled planet for its natural deposits of materials for Durasteel for ships and armor.**

**Rebel Base Camp located on the Northern Continent, hidden amongst the trees to prevent orbital scans.**

"Alright men, we need some troops to stay up for the night patrol." The Corporal explains to a group of armed soldiers. "Man, what are you talking about? There hasn't been any Stormies or Imps in the past couple of months! All we have to worry about are the damn trees attacking us!" One of the soldiers yells out as they toss their trash into the campfire. "Look, we have to do this just in case the Empire has set some soldiers down on the surface. Especially since our long range sensors detected a group of Victory-Class Star Destroyers with an Imperial Star Destroyer Mark Two leading. A good bet is that they're here for the ore. Once they discover our position this entire forest will be full of Stormtroopers and Repulsortanks. Now pick two people to stay up and keep watch." The Corporal gets a group of salutes then he walks back to the bunker.

Once the officer left the campsite, one of the soldiers looks up and smirks, "So, do you wanna draw straws or do we have a couple of volunteers?" Another soldier stands up, "I think the rookies should do it. They haven't seen any action and they need some practice!" "Heh, good idea Private Kurn! Let see, Private Fowler and Private Arundel! Front and center! You have the luck of being night watch! Have fun!" All the troops except one head into the bunker, laughing and chatting about what happened during their patrols. The two left over privates watch the bunker sink into the ground. "Well, let's put out this campfire and switch on our night vision." Private Fowler explains as she takes a bucket of water and douses the flames. Private Arundel lets out a small sigh as he flips down an eyepiece to activate his night vision or "Night-Eye". "What's wrong Arundel? Don't like the dark?" Fowler teases Arundel as she flips down her Night-Eye as well. "It's not that, it's just I don't like keeping watch, it's so boring and it's not like Stormtroopers are going to be flying through the woodwork. This hunk of rock and trees is unimportant to anyone!" Arundel complains as he sets up his position, setting up his motion sensors. "Obviously it's important to the Alliance." Fowler explains as she begins to calibrate the sensors, "We're not here just because of the foliage."

**Deep in the Orai Forests**

"Lieutenant, all light sources from the Rebel Base has been exterminated. Only two Rebel targets remain outside of the supposed Rebel Base." A Stormtrooper in full black armor speaks into his helmet comm system. "_Trooper, have you made sure that the Rebel Base is not using motion sensors outside of those two soldiers patrolling the base?_" "Everything is taken care of sir. Once we take out both of the Rebel troops we'll be able to infiltrate the Rebel Base." A black Stormtrooper explains as he holds his sniper rifle steady in his hands. The crosshair is floating above the forehead of Private Arundel. "_Shadow Unit, you have permission to engage the base, once the two targets are taken out the rest of the squad will meet up with you. It is pertinent that you do not get discovered or else we will abandon Shadow Unit. Do you understand the mission objectives?_" The leader of Shadow Unit nods his head and pulls out a small vibroknife. "Yes sir, I understand and we will contact you once we've completed the objective." The trooper cuts off his comm unit and signals another trooper to follow him. "Shadow Three, do you have a confirmed hit on one of the targets?" The leader asks as he and the other trooper slowly approaches the Rebel camp. "Yes Shadow Leader, on your mark the target will go down." Shadow Lead orders Shadow Two to hold position behind a tree. "Wait for my signal, we'll distract the female."

"Huh…that's odd." Private Arundel exclaims as he taps on his motion scanner. "What? What is it Arundel?" Private Fowler asks, without even looking up from her scanner. "It's just that my scanner just blipped for a quick second then nothing. Must be the damn animals in this forest. I hate this job so much." Fowler has learned to ignore Arundel's constant whining about the patrol. "Patrol's almost over anyway, you have four hours before sunrise then you can go to sleep." "Yeah…I guess." Arundel walks back to his post and scans the forest for anything. "Tch…nothing, just like I told the Corporal, but no! Nobody listens to the Rookie! Of course not!"

Shadow Leader motions to Shadow Two. The black trooper picks up a rock and tosses it at a tree a couple of meters from Private Fowler's position. Of course she was the only one that heard the sound and went to investigate. "Too easy…" Shadow Leader says under his breath, "Shadow Two take out the female, Shadow Three prepare to fire." They both whisper, "Yes sir." and prepare themselves. Shadow Two pulls out a small blade and stalks Private Fowler as she goes deeper into the forest. "Ah, so this was the cause of the noise." Looking up, Fowler sees a small animal eating some fruit. Smiling a bit Fowler turns around to head back to camp. "Arundel! You done complai-" before the Private could finish a cold Durasteel blade makes contact with the flesh of her neck. The blade proceeds to push deep in and cut important blood vessels for the human body. In that instant a black, armored hand wraps around the lips of her mouth to muffle any screams. The blade does its work and cuts all important blood vessels and veins to incapacitate the target. Shadow Two lays the limp body carefully onto the forest floor. "Shadow Leader, female target eliminated." Shadow Leader nods and looks over at the direction of where Shadow Three was hiding. "Shadow Three, fire." Shadow Three smirks and pulls the trigger on his rifle, a thin green burst of light flies from the barrel and a second later collides into the flesh, muscle, bone then out the other side of his target's head. Private Arundel falls to the ground with a burning hole in both sides of his head.

"Lieutenant, both targets eliminated, objective complete. We're forming at the campsite." "_Roger that Shadow Leader, the rest of Shadow Unit will join up with you in a couple of minutes hang tight._" The two other black Stormtroopers walk out of the forest. Shadow Two is wiping the blood off of his blade as Shadow Three is putting up his rifle in exchange for an E-11 blaster. The rest of Shadow Unit, containing two more soldiers, two engineers and a medic, all in the black Stormtrooper armor although carrying different equipment. "Hey Shadow Lead, sunrise in T-minus two hours. The Rebels are gonna wanna know where their patrol went." One of the soldiers speaks up, "Don't worry Shadow Five, we'll be out of here before the sun rises. Shadow Six and Seven; think you can find us a way inside of the base without us being discovered?" One of the engineers taps the side of their helmet, obviously changing a view mode for their visor. "Hmm…" Walking around on the ground, the engineer seems to be looking for something. "Ah ha! I found an entrance. X-Ray mode detects nobody in the vicinity. Shadow Six, come help me open this hatch up."

**30 Minutes Later**

"Got it, base is breached Leader. She's all yours." The two engineers step back. "Lieutenant, we've breached the Rebel Compound, further orders." Shadow Leader asks, "_Good work Shadow Unit, but it's not over yet. Your next job is to sneak into the base and gather information and intelligence on why the Rebels are here. There's no particular reason why anyone would want this hunk of rock but they're here for some reason and we're here to find out why. Primary Objective is to secure any intel related to the Rebels' purpose on Orai. Secondary Objective is to not get caught. We don't want the Rebels aware of our presence just yet. Understood Shadow Unit?_" "Yes sir, crystal clear. Let's move out Shadows. Shadow Two and Three you're on me. Everyone else, keep watch and get back to the rendezvous point if sunrise occurs, with or without us. Understood?" The soldiers nod as they watch their leader and two others disappear in the base.

The three Stormtroopers land in the base and take a quick look around. "Looks like this area is lightly patrolled. The security is probably weak due to the protection they have with this base. Still, be aware of all forces in the base and try to use stealth. If you are discovered, take out all witnesses discreetly and don't allow yourself to be caught." Shadow Leader explains himself to the other two and they nod in agreement. "Alright, split up. Try to find a map and upload it into the Squad database so we have some reference point. Any information will be in the command system which should be run by a skeleton crew right now. Some additional requests, try not to use your blasters unless you have to. I'm sure this base has internal sensors set to detect unauthorized blaster fire." Splitting off, the three troopers move to find their objective.

"So…Retwin. You finally popped the question, eh? How long did it take ya? What was it Wadrat…three years? Four?" Laughing, the four soldiers are standing around smoking cigarettes. "Hey! Shut up Terrano! At least I asked her. I knew from the first time I saw Lahani I was gonna marry her." Retwin swoons as he takes a puff of the cigarette. "I bet you weren't. Didn't you meet Lahani in a bar somewhere? Wasn't it Corellia? She was the bartender." Private Helranth laughs, Private Retwin sighs. "Yeah you're right…I did meet her in a bar. But does that really matter? I love her and she loves me…right?" Private Ovarug finishes off his cigarette and tosses the butt to the ground. "Hey Retwin, you never told us if she actually said yes or not." Wadrat inhales deeply on his cigarette and tosses the butt down then stomps on it. "Yeah, you never did tell us if she said yes or not." Private Retwin finishes his and picks up his rifle. "Well, what do you guys think? Of course she said yes, otherwise I'd be on the 'MIA' list." All the soldiers chuckle and proceed to say their farewells. Retwin heads down the hallway and Shadow Two prepares his blade. Grabbing Retwin around the mouth, he breaks the Private's gun arm and stabs him in the spine. Shadow Three pushes down on the blade to cut down three centimeters on the spine to confirm a kill and tosses the body in the shadows. He stealthily glides around the corner and spots for enemy patrols. Looking on the walls for any kind of direction he sees a sign. "Navigation Room --" Shadow Three smirks and follows the sign, looking into the room he sees one officer looking at a global map. Sneaking up on the officer, Shadow Three grabs both sides of his head and twists the neck until he hears a cracking sound. Shadow Three lets the limp body fall and he downloads a map to the facility.

"Shadow Leader, found a map of the complex, I'm starting the upload now, should be there in a couple of minutes. Seems I'm far from the Command Center. Shadow Leader, you're the closest so it's up to you sir." Elsewhere in the facility, "Got it Shadow Three, Shadow Two have you gotten any progress?" Shadow Two places his last thermal bomb on the base reactor. "Yes sir, all bombs are set and ready to detonate on my mark." Shadow Leader smiles, confirms, and then makes his way towards the command complex. Pulling out his blaster pistol he slides into the room. Shadow Leader is surprised to see only one person in the entire area and he's asleep. "This is easy, almost too easy." Shadow Leader puts the barrel of the gun against the back of the Captain's head. The young Rebel Captain wakes up and turns around. "Wha…what the?! Who the hell are you!?" Shadow Leader slams the side of his pistol into the Captain's head. "Shut up, I just need some information and then I'll be done with you. Why are the Rebels on Orai? What is your purpose to set up such a secret installation?" The Captain begins to shake and stutter, a warm liquid substance is leaking from the chair. "I-I-I, er I mean, we're here be-be-because…because of ore." Shadow Leader sighs and goes to communicate with his squad. "Shadow Three, I've found a Captain but he's scared out of his mind, it's going to take me hours to get anything useful out of him. Can you get any intel from the Navi room you're in?"

Shadow Three looks around at the consoles and investigates. "Yes sir, this global map they have seems to have certain areas on the planet highlighted. According to the legend they have, the highlighted regions indicate mining areas and high deposits of ore necessary for development of Durasteel. I'm proceeding to download the map and I'll meet up with you at the rendezvous point." Shadow Leader nods his head and pulls the trigger. All three troopers climb out of the hatch they entered in and start walking towards the rendezvous. "Shadow Leader to Command, mission accomplished Lieutenant. We have information that indicates the Rebels are mining ore to make Durasteel for their ships and armor." "_Roger that Shadow Leader. You've done a good job Shadow Unit, board the transport and we'll debrief you on the mission once you're back on the Ruby Dusk._" "Yes sir, over and out." Shadow Leader uploads the map that Shadow Three found and begins to examine it, "Hmm, this isn't the only base the Rebels have set up. Apparently there are dozens like this one. Shadow Two; detonate the charges once we board the transport."

As Shadow Unit boards the Stormtrooper Transport, all the troopers remove their helmet. Revealing they all have the same face. These are remnants from the Republic's Clone Army. No longer serving the Republic, they now serve the Empire as an elite commando unit designated to infiltrate sensitive areas. "Shadow Two, go ahead. Let's welcome the sunrise with some fireworks." Shadow Two smirks and presses a button on a hand switch he's been carrying. The base explodes with a massive column of smoke and fire. The cloud rises into the sky as debris and various other objects fly off into random directions. At the same time, Orai's sun rises in the distance giving the Rebels something to fear.


End file.
